Director of Partnerships

Simprints builds cutting-edge technology for some of the poorest individuals in the world, and in the most challenging environments on earth. We are working at the exciting interface of biometrics, technology, and international development where our product is used to radically increase transparency and effectiveness, making sure that every vaccine, every dollar, every education initiative reaches its intended recipient.

Numerous governments, businesses, and NGOs have committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “zero” targets, such as ending poverty and hunger. However, these targets are impossible to achieve if we have no idea who we have reached – and who we have missed. Compounded by poor infrastructure and weak national ID schemes, the inability to identify people costs lives, wastes resources, and prevents millions from escaping poverty.

We are a nonprofit biometrics company in the world providing accurate, affordable, and secure identification tools to help NGOs, businesses and governments deliver essential services to their most vulnerable populations. We partner with the Gates Foundation, USAID, DFID, Gavi, the Global Innovation Fund and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and we work with multiple partners including Concern Worldwide, BRAC, and Mercy Corps. Simprints is currently on track to support over 4 million people access critical services by 2021.

Role Overview

The Director of Partnerships - without a doubt - is a critical hire to achieve our ambitious goals. You will report directly to the COO and will focus on growing and professionalising our partnerships team - the economic engine of Simprints - by increasing our reach and impact with partners: NGOs, social enterprises, and governments.

Your responsibilities will be three-fold:

People

Work closely with the Talent Operations team and other parts of the company to grow and build global capacity of the Partnerships team.

Manage, support, and guide a global team to achieve our commercial goals.

Foster the growth and learning of direct reports, including frequent 1:1’s and feedback sessions, and 6-monthly career development reviews.

Develop and maintain a world class training programme to grow junior talent into experienced partnership managers.

Coordination

Define and own clear KPIs for the partnerships team

Lead quarterly and annual reviews, as well as presenting impact partnership progress at team-wide monthly meetings

Maintain the budget for the partnerships team, working closely with the COO to ensure resources are spent in an efficient manner.

Strengthen collaborations and alignment with other teams across the company, including Research, Project Operations, and Product.

Leadership

Lead strategic planning and execution for the Impact Partnerships team in line with the company’s annual and quarterly objectives.

Gather and analyze data to drive decisions, identify opportunities, and lead the execution of plans to improve and streamline our strategy, business development principles and processes.

Provide leadership and strategic insights from the partnerships field to assist in shaping our product to address the needs of the sector and in scaling our operations worldwide.

Support in developing, testing, and implementing business models that help Simprints maximise its impact while becoming financially sustainable.

What skills and experience do you need?

Hiring. You have a track record of identifying top talent through a number of channels, running recruitment processes, and landing top candidates.

Management. You have built and managed teams, fostering individuals growth and success through guidance, feedback, and support. You know how to identify and nurture individuals strengths and talent, and understand the importance of getting involved with recruitment and hiring.

Training. You have developed and run structured, commercial training curricula focused on developing junior talent into experienced deal closers.

Process optimisation. You have experience setting and managing KPIs for a commercial team, and identifying ways to optimise opportunity and account management. Experience with CRMs - particularly Salesforce - is a plus.

Strategy. You’re able to set a direction, communicate it effectively, and get buy-in from your team. Yet, you can remain flexible and adapt to changing demands as needed. You’re an analytical thinker and enjoy solving problems.

[Bonus] iNGO/Funder Knowledge. You have a strong working knowledge of the international development sector, and understand what it takes to participate in open bids and land large scale contracts. Direct experience working with funding agencies is a plus.

Why Simprints?

Unlimited paid time off. Not only does that mean you can take as much holiday as you feel you need, you also don’t need to worry about the unexpected events life throws at you: a sick family member, an unexpected bereavement or jury duty. Last year, the average Simprints employee took a total of 31 days off (annual leave plus UK bank holidays)

See our tech in action by joining our deployments around the world: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, or Zimbabwe just to name a few.

Truly flexible working hours. More efficient late at night? That’s fine by us, start after lunch. We are looking for people who get the job done, not for people who get the job done between 9am and 5pm

A generous budget (>£1,500) to spend on both learning and wellness. In the past, Simprints engineers have spent this on attending tech conferences, enrolling in Udacity nanodegrees, joining bouldering gyms, and organizing instructor-led yoga sessions in the office

Two ‘LEGO Days’ each quarter where you can work on any project you want. Past projects have ranged from exploring image processing techniques to building a LEGO train to deliver beer around the office

Work in one of the nicest offices in Cambridge with one of the most diverse teams, we have over 20+ nationalities in our team of 35.

And, most importantly, play a key role in an organisation that is having a major impact improving people’s lives.

What to do next?

We use a blinded recruitment process to make sure that we are as free from bias as possible. Accordingly, please fill out the application form found here.

In addition, please submit your CV through the job page at www.simprints.com/careers. We will not look at it until after the application forms are processed.

We may appoint before the closing date, however, if you do not hear from us before, we will definitely be in touch immediately after the closing date.